Eating Behaviors, Social Media, and Screens (Child and Adolescent)

It is commonly recognized that exposure to various picture types on social media may impact one's physical and mental health and alter one's impression of one's body image (BI) and eating habits. This study by Zeeni et al. (2024) evaluated how exposure to Instagram posts about junk food affected young adults' perceptions of their bodies, moods, and appetites. A crossover experimental design with randomization was employed. Participants (n = 63, ages 18 to 24) spent 15 minutes browsing the feeds of two different Instagram accounts—one devoid of photographs of junk food and the other filled with images—after completing a baseline survey. After that, they responded to a brief questionnaire measuring their mood, desires, and state BI (T1). Following a one-week washout interval (T2), users perused the other account and then completed the identical brief survey as in T1. Data analysis showed that in addition to heightened appetites for savory, salty, and fatty foods, exposure to junk food content was linked to increased stress, hunger, melancholy, and weariness. Furthermore, after exposure to junk food content, individuals displayed a greater demand for junk food and a reduced desire for healthy food items from a virtual meal tray. The type of material participants viewed had little effect on state BI discontent. In summary, the authors comment that social media exposure to content about junk food has a detrimental impact on mood and desires, influencing what people eat. The current research highlights the necessity of treatments that provide emotional and cognitive skills to improve media literacy and encourage cognizance of social media use.